Speakers

In addition to an incredible line-up of speakers from a wide array of industries, Responsive Conference strives to create an experience like no other. Through a combination of interactive group formats, immersive workshops, and open forum discussions, attendees will explore the Future of Work together.

Join industry peers in facilitated small groups. Collaborate with fellow attendees through a stunning series of experiences that model a civilization in the future. Participate in talks and interviews with some of the brightest minds and thought leaders currently shaping organizational design in the 21st century.

Featured Speakers

2019 PresentersInspiration from some of the most thoughtful leaders of the 21st century

Featured Speakers

Marcus Glover

In 2018, Marcus Glover took the stage with three others, and led a conversation that left the audience in tears.

Marcus Glover began his career working with global advertising and marketing agencies such as Fallon, BBDO, Arnell Group and UniWorld Group where he handled accounts ranging from United Airlines, Miller Brewing, Pepsi-Cola, McDonald’s, Reebok, NBA, NFL, Adidas, Ford, Mercedes Benz and a host of others. During his tenture in advertising he managed more than $500 Million in corporate advertising spending.

Over the years, Marcus has also created successful ventures with some of the world’s most beloved celebrities including the Muhammad Ali, GOAT Snack food company in partnership with Masterfoods/ M&M’s, The S.Carter Footwear Company, a partnership between Jay-Z and Reebok, Ekocycle sustainable apparel, a partnership between the Coca-Cola Company and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and TRUKFIT, skate apparel company, an apparel venture with Lil Wayne.

With a deep desire for social justice and to pursue criminal justice reform, Marcus is also the Board Chair for Defy Ventures New York. Defy Ventures harnesses the natural talents of currently and formerly incarcerated men and women, redirecting them toward legalbusiness ventures and careers.

Marcus has also become a dedicated mentor to incarcerated men, women and youth as a volunteer yoga and meditation instructor leading juvenile programs at Rikers Island Prison.

Mark Brand

You can’t do anything positive with your life unless you’re stabilized, and you can’t be stabilized on an empty stomach.

Mark Brand is a formerly unhoused chef who uses food to fight poverty. He is dedication to changing the landscape of business and encouraging others to look at sustainable business models. Social impact and change is not only evident in his own business models, but his thought leadership is contagious to challenge many others to also make a difference. His presentations are some of the most engaging, interactive and thought provoking discussions audiences will hear.

An individual in recovery, Mark continuously strives to make an impact in others’ lives and also in communities. With eleven businesses under his belt, he is an example of a new form of leadership that encompasses good in every step.

In 2011, Mark took over Save On Meats, a Vancouver butcher and diner that has provided food security and access since 1957. In 2013, he created The Token Program, an alternate currency to feed those in need without a cash exchange. Almost 100,000 tokens have been redeemed, filling 100,000 empty stomachs, and creating interactions between those who have and those still in need. In addition, more than one million meals have left Save On’s doors to feed those who struggle in partnership with his charity, A Better Life Foundation. This foundation works with community agencies, marginalized individuals, and governments to create tangible waves of change. Along with managing the five companies, Mark also dedicates time to inspiring and challenging others through international speaking engagements and workshops.

Mark is an Adjunct Professor, Social Change & Innovation, at the University of Southern California and has Honorary degrees from VCC and Lambton Colleges.

Through his cooking, philanthropic efforts, systems design, and love for community that he’s found a unique balance in business and purpose.

Brands On Stage

Some Participating Organizations

Brands On Stage

Some Participating Organizations

Brands You Might Recognize

We bring some of the most recognizable brands to Responsive Conference to share their discoveries and ideas with you.

Interactive Event

Interactive Experience

Responsive Conference is about interactive participation, and not just passive learning.

By attending the conference, you’ll participate in experiences that represent the best of what the Responsive movement embodies—creative thinking, collaboration, and responding to real-world organizational challenges quickly and effectively.

Daily Small Groups

Community-based events often spark the kind of creativity that is less readily apparent in online meetings, and encourage innovative thinking around how to approach the ever-increasing unpredictability in the workplace and beyond. By tapping into this “human economy,” Responsive Conference allows attendees to think big and redefine the Future of Work.

This year, we will be incorporating Small Group Huddles into each day of the conference, providing a chance for attendees to interact with one another outside the context of the conference agenda.

Each Small Group is led by a facilitator, and will tackle a different relevant issue about organizational and workplace challenges. This is a chance to come away with tactics and ideas to take back to your own company, and to form connections with a new group of colleagues that you can turn to for advice in the future.

Immersive Art Throughout

In addition to a carefully-curated conference agenda, we’ve also crafted an interactive artistic experience that is embedded throughout the conference. We’ve selected works from artists who create in a space parallel to the Future of Work, and are also attempting to bring equitable attention to contemporary issues.

Each of the artists we chose is committed to questioning the ways in which we as a society choose to participate and engage—in our cities, workplaces, relationships, and culture. These exhibits and performances critique while balancing a great deal of care and generosity inside of this commentary.

In the work of the artists invited to present at Responsive, conference participants can expect to see the ways experimentalism and risk can live alongside structure and networks. These performers embody this practice, both literally and figuratively. They show us that while we live in a society plagued by separation and partisan appeals, being responsive and open can provide new avenues for us to join together for common causes.

Responsive Mastermind

Responsive Mastermind

An exclusive gathering for enterprise companies

Responsive Mastermind

Responsive Mastermind

An exclusive gathering for enterprise companies

What is the Responsive Mastermind?

Now that you’re a part of the Responsive movement, how do you secure leadership buy-in at your own organization for new Future of Work initiatives? How do you drive adoption of new collaboration technologies? How can you overcome the cultural inertia inside your own organization so that your company and its employees can become faster, more agile, and truly responsive to customers?

These are tough questions we’re constantly striving to address. At the response of Simon Lowdon (CEO of Pepsi Global Snacks), we’re bringing together a Responsive Mastermind aimed at solving these organizational challenges within large enterprise companies. Responsive Mastermind will include Simon and his colleagues at Pepsi, along leaders from Google, Yammer, Chanel, Facebook, and other innovative enterprise companies that are currently in the midst of cultural change initiatives.

Responsive Mastermind takes place in parallel with Responsive Conference, and brings together an exclusive group of change-makers to learn, collaborate, and network with one another on a monthly basis. Participants hold leadership roles such as:

CMO

Director of HR

Head of Learning and Development

Head of Digital Workplace

VP of Team Development

Head of People

Head of Org Design

Some of the topics we’ll explore on a monthly basis include:

What does it mean to create a TEAL organization?

What are the best techniques for rolling out new Future of Work initiatives, and how do you get leadership buy-in for those initiatives?

Do Team of Team approaches always work? Are there places where they aren’t appropriate?

Companies participating include:

Interested in joining the Mastermind to help shape the Future of Work along with other enterprise-level peers?